Tag Archives: Fashion

Ladies, if you’re anything like me you keep your best clothes for ‘best’. For me, this has always included my beautiful wedding dress. Bagged in a protective, er, bag, it hangs at the back of my husbands wardrobe (no room in mine) and hasn’t seen the light of day in six years. Till now.

I can still remember exactly how I felt that moment years ago when I stepped into it for the very first time. It was the 8th dress I’d tried on. All of the previous seven had been beautiful creations. Shades of white and ivory, lace and tulle and inlaid with jewels and sparkling diamantes. Some simplistic in their design, hugging my figure, others full skirted. I had really liked two of them in particular, and had almost decided on one when the saleslady gave me “just one more” to try on.

Well.

The moment I slipped into it I fell in love. You know how they say every little girl dreams of being a princess? Well when I put that dress on I became a princess. Every other dress paled in comparison. My wonderful mother bought it for me, and on my wedding day I felt like the most beautiful woman in the whole wide world.

After the wedding it got drycleaned (you know what it’s like at weddings; the odd spilt drink or two and grass stains from imaginative posing for wedding portraits) and hung in the wardrobe and there it stayed. Every time I hung up a shirt I lingered to touch the bag with longing and remember when I was princess for a day.

Last weekend I decided enough was enough. What was the point in having such a beautiful dress if only to wear it just once? That dress was made to be appreciated, to be enjoyed, and to be loved. Now that I have a daughter of my own, I want her to understand that beautiful things in life are to be enjoyed up close, not admired from afar. My 80 year old granddad, bless him, went shopping by himself at Christmas and bought Holly a cute little creamy dress of her own. So I decided that before the weather packs in (just around the corner bugger it – brrr) we would have our own little fashion shoot out at my parents farm. My sister took the photos and my mother stood behind her, flapping like a chicken and jumping like a monkey to make Holly smile for the camera. “Look at silly Nanny!” It worked.

I highly recommend it. Get your wedding dress, or your other most favourite dress, the one that makes you feel a million bucks and gorgeously beautiful and wear it. Take some photos. Get your sisters/mother/aunties/friends together and make an afternoon of it, with bubbly wine and nibbly cheese on crackers perhaps. However you decide to do it, enjoy yourself, and I hope you enjoy these photos ♥